Accused wife killer goes free after failure to locate witness

Ganesh Narine, on trial for knifing his wife to death, was yesterday set free in the High Court by Justice Navindra Singh.

A no-case submission by Narine’s attorney was upheld after the key witness, Amanda Singh, the couple’s daughter who had reportedly witnessed the fatal attack, could not be located.

Narine was committed to stand trial for the murder of Krishandai Singh,

 Ganesh Narine
Ganesh Narine
 Krishandai Singh
Krishandai Singh

who he was accused of fatally stabbing in 2009.

State Prosecutor Dhanika Singh made an application to have Singh’s deposition read in court but Narine’s lawyer objected to this because he would not be given a chance to cross-examine her.

The judge ruled against having the evidence read in court and told Narine that he was free to go.

In October 2013 Narine was ordered to face a re-trial after a jury failed to reach a unanimous decision on his case.

The 12-member jury had returned to Justice James Bovell-Drakes after three hours of deliberations and said they were unable to decide on a verdict. Three jurors believed that he was guilty while the other nine were in favour of a not-guilty verdict.

Narine had pleaded not guilty at the start of his re-trial on Wednesday.